Q. If God is Omniscient and therefore knows what I will do before I do it then I am predestined. How can I have free will?

A. God is all knowing but His knowledge in no way causes anyone to be predestined. God simply has knowledge and because He is God it is very accurate. God created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. But knowledge is not a force that causes action.

For instance, the mother of a two-year old knows her child very well. Let’s say the mother knows her child prefers chocolate chip cookies to Oreos. So, she puts some Oreos and some chocolate chip cookies on a low table where the two-year old can see and take one or the other. She says to her friend, “Watch…my child will take the chocolate chip cookies and leave the Oreos alone.” Then, the toddler walks over and sure enough takes the chocolate chip cookie and toddles off to eat it.

Did the mother’s knowledge cause the toddler to choose the chocolate chip cookie? No.

Could the toddler have chosen the Oreo? Yes.

Could the toddler have taken both of them? Yes.

Because human knowledge is imperfect other human beings can surprise us with their choices. The mother could have been wrong about her prediction. But God is outside of time and knows all things. He is never wrong.

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Well I see it as that god knows the outcome to every option that we could make but it is up to us to actually make the choice. Like say you are at a crosswalk god knows that if we go straight we are going to get run over by a speeding drunk driver but if we go left we will find a winning lottery ticket on the floor. He doesn’t make the choice for us but just knows what will happen no matter what choice we make.